Emerging Issues in Gender and Development: an Overview

NOVEMBER • 2000Report No. 58Emerging Issues in Gender and Development: An OverviewEmma BellReport prepared for S.Q. Danida ©Institute of Development Studies ISBN 1 85864 384 8 CONTENTS1. INTRODUCTION 12. SECTOR-WIDE APPROACHES (SWAPS) 22.1 Twin-track approach to gender mainstreaming 32.2 Gender analysis 32.3 Building partner capacity and commitment 42.4 Participation 42.5 Decentralisation 52.6 Projects and components 52.7 Accountability 62.8 Monitoring and evaluation 63. KEY THEMES 83.1 Poverty 83.2 Gender-specific aspects of globalisation 8 3.2.1 Macroeconomics (including trade) 9 3.2.2 Gender budgets 10 3.2.3 Livelihoods and economic empowerment 103.3 Knowledge management 113.4 Information and communications technologies (ICTs) 113.5 Conflict and emergencies 123.6 The environment 133.7 CEDAW and human rights 133.8 Good governance 143.9 Violence against women (VAW) 153.10 Men and masculinities 163.11 HIV/AIDS 164. KEY SECTORS 184.1 Health 18 4.2 Education 184.3 Agriculture 194.4 Private sector 20 4.4.1 Corporate accountability 20 4.4.2 Vocational training 21APPENDICES 22Appendix One - METHODOLOGY 22Appendix Two - BIBLIOGRAPHY 241. INTRODUCTIONThis paper provides a brief overview of the emerging issues in gender and development policy, practice and theory.1 Since the UN World Conference in Beijing (1995) many development organisations have made important progress in addressing a gender equality perspective through adopting gender mainstreaming strategies. Gender equality is being increasingly advanced as a strategic objective for effective development and has therefore become central to the work of all development organisation staff. Five years on, the impetus of the Beijing +5 process - which culminated in the UN 23rd Special Session in New York, 5-9 June 20002 - has provided opportunity for reflections on progress made and for the identification of future priorities including strategies for overcoming poor implementation of policies. Whilst the 23rd Session failed to address all the wishes of gender advocates, it has strengthened development organisations’ commitment to addressing new concerns arising from the rapid pace of globalisation. Bilaterals, multilaterals, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have also recognised the need to collaborate and coordinate their work if they are to strategically tackle these concerns. The Development Assistance Committee (DAC)3 Working Party on Gender Equality (WP-GEN) has made considerable progress in coordinating a number of ministries and development cooperation agencies’ efforts to ensure that gender is mainstreamed into their work. From discussions with a number of representatives from multilaterals, bilaterals, NGOs and academic institutions, and reference to a number of key documents, the current major priority is to address the unequal effects of globalisation on women and men, and to establish ways of making macro-level economic processes and analyses more gender- sensitive. Globalisation processes have also provided the means and the need to make information more accessible internationally through information and communications technologies (ICTs). ICTs have increasingly moved onto the agenda for their empowering potential. However, agencies need to succeed in widening access, including to those marginalised by globalisation processes. This report on emerging issues will start by exploring sector-wide approaches (SWAps) and the extent to which they have enabled the integration of gender equality concerns. SWAps are increasingly being adopted by donor agencies as an effective and efficient way to ensure that development initiatives have national reach and ownership. The report will then turn to the identified key emerging themes and priority sectors. It ends with a methodology section and bibliography.1 See methodology section at end for details of research process adopted by BRIDGE (Institute of Development Studies). 2 The 23rd Special Session of the General Assembly entitled ‘Women: 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the Twenty-First Century’ reviewed and assessed the progress achieved in the implementation of the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women, adopted in 1985, and the Beijing Platform for Action adopted at the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. It also considered future actions and initiatives for the year 2000 and beyond. 3 The DAC is the principal body through which the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and its member states deal with cooperation with developing countries.1 2. SECTOR-WIDE APPROACHES (SWAps)The move towards SWAps4 is based on their potential for building coherent policy and focused goals at the national level - thus improving implementation throughout sectors – and increasing national ownership. Whilst SWAps are still in their early days, and evidence of impact is scarce, the World Bank’s SWAps, for example, have been criticised for their failure to establish national ownership resulting from a lack of policy dialogue with partners (including civil society organisations). In response to criticism the IMF and World Bank have agreed to negotiate their programmes in low-income countries through a government driven strategy to reduce poverty, developed in consultation with civil society and other stakeholders (see section on Poverty for details of these Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs)). As a result of this disappointing performance to date, advocates of SWAps (for example the World Health Organisation (WHO), the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and members of the DAC WP-GEN) have moved away from seeing them as an instrument of donor policy coordination to a more nationally focused strategy embracing national-local level systems and issues. Through policy dialogue SWAps can increase national ownership and local ownership, and successful partner and donor collaboration. Cross-cutting issues such as gender, environmental and human rights considerations can be mainstreamed across sectors within such an approach. Furthermore, SWAps place pressure on governments to be accountable to their citizens, to state explicitly their public resources commitment to essential sectors such as health and education. There is a risk, however, associated with a sector-wide approach that focuses solely on partnership with key central government partners (through for example budget support) – this can lead to a centrally driven, technocratic focus on improving the efficiency of top-down delivery systems. In this way the viewpoint of the intended beneficiaries may get lost, unless specific attention is paid to strengthening approaches to social analysis (including gender analysis) and processes of consultation and participation in sector programmes. If these risks are not avoided much of the potential of SWAps for poverty reduction (and indeed engendering development) will not be realised. Experience to date shows that while SWAps have the potential to assist the effective mainstreaming of gender, they have largely failed to include a gender perspective (Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and WHO studies). Indeed DGIS (Netherlands) has been advocating for increased gender-sensitivity in World Bank SWAps. DAC WP-GEN members have increasingly recognised the need to extend gender equality goals from the micro or project level to the macro or policy and programme levels (including SWAps), for comprehensive mainstreaming:The DAC Working Party on Gender EqualityThe DAC Statement on gender equality (1995) included the goal: ‘Reconsider the impact of non-project forms of co-operation, such as sectoral programme assistance, structural adjustment, public expenditure reviews, on men and women’ and the goal ‘Include gender implications in analyses, policies, and country and sector strategies.’ However, members4 SWAps - A sustained partnership, led by national authorities, involving different arms of government, groups in civil society, and one or more donor agencies. The goal of SWAps is to contribute to national human development objectives by focusing on the development of a coherent sector, defined by an appropriate institutional structure and national financing programme (adapted from Norton and Bird 1998).2 of the WP-GEN have made least progress in this area and have moved towards sector- wide approaches at different rates. A lack of human and financial resources, as well as insufficient capacity, have been identified as serious constraints to including gender in all initiatives. But constraints can include the lack of embracing of gender equality goals by partner governments. This emphasises the need for sensitive policy dialogue that tackles the importance of gender equality concerns and capacity building in order to build commitment to and competence for addressing gender inequalities. For this reason the WP-GEN has taken the lead in trying to ensure that gender is effectively mainstreamed into the SWAps process through its Task Force on Gender Equality and Macro-Economic Policy Assistance, Programme Aid and Sector Investment Programmes (led by the Netherlands). An active part of WP-GEN’s present work plan involves efforts to promote gender equality in SWAps in the education, agriculture and health sectors. The Task Force has coordinated case study research to bring together concepts, experiences and instruments on gender and SWAps. The main areas of consideration with SWAps in relation to gender equality are outlined below - these have been primarily identified by the members of the WP-GEN. 2.1 Twin-track approach to gender mainstreamingIt is important to recognise gender ‘mainstreaming’ as a process which needs to permeate the whole sector programme. Otherwise, gender issues tend to be interpreted simply as the need to increase women’s and girls’ access to services and resources. This fails to recognise the structures of power in gender relations, which impede the realisation of gender equality (both within development institutions and outside). DAC members and other development organisations are increasingly following the twin-track approach to gender mainstreaming. This sees a gender-relations perspective as essential but that there is also a need for women and girl-focused activities to redress persistent inequalities. Gender analysis is essential to any mainstreaming strategy. 2.2 Gender analysis Gender analysis of social and institutional processes is more challenging in the context of SWAps than in projects, which have more confined fields of action. It is important to carry out a thorough overall diagnosis of the constraints to achieving gender equality within the sector early in the process of formulating the policy framework for the SWAp. This helps to highlight strategies and policy measures, which can then be incorporated in plans and budgets. Gender analysis can be applied to the overall process of outlining the programme of work around which a SWAp is built, or to specific issues related to particular sub-sectors or fields of action. Members of the DAC WP-GEN have supported the exploration of the social dynamics of exclusion from public services, for example, health, education and transport services. There also needs to be gender analysis of institutional processes at the local level to ensure that local elites do not capture benefits within ‘community-based’ organisations. DAC WP-GEN members reported this year that they had made much progress in including gender analysis in their work. Particular advances included capacity building in gender analysis, as illustrated by Sida and the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC) who have both introduced training in gender analysis at all levels of their institutions. Capacity building support for partner governments and other institutions is also of great importance (see section on building institutional capacity and commitment). 3 Members of the DAC WP-GEN have conducted research into gender issues in education (Uganda, Ghana, India), health (Bangladesh and Ghana) and agriculture (Zambia and Kenya) SWAps including assessing the quality of gender analysis (see bibliography for a list of publications). To date gender analyses in the education and agriculture SWAps focus on constraints to women accessing education and agricultural extension services, rather than on measures to advance the quality of those services. The education study concludes that the diagnosis of gender issues within the sector programme should be improved. Likewise, the application of the diagnosis to the development of policy measures to enhance gender equity needs to be improved. Hence ‘one size’ does not fit all – country and locally specific gender analysis is required as a basis for action. The agriculture SWAps research (undertaken by the World Bank for the WP-GEN) states that gender analysis has been successful in reinforcing and strengthening overall agriculture sector programme objectives and also outlines measures to improve gender analysis. The health SWAps research (WP-GEN) identified that gender analysis was incorporated into Ghana’s health SWAps including analysis of the gender roles in the Upper West region of Ghana to access sex specific vulnerability to, and the impact of, ill health. However the study also highlights the need for improved gender analysis in all parts of the health sector including in resource allocation linked to gender-sensitive planning. The Bangladesh health SWAp had little integration of a gender analysis into the early stages of the sector process, so losing the opportunity to introduce gender equality issues in a systematic way from the start.2.3 Building partner capacity and commitmentThe Task Force of the WP-GEN is evidence that donors are attempting to establish partnerships and coordinate action on mainstreaming gender into the SWAps process. While it is also emphasised that SWAps will benefit from an approach that allows different stakeholders to have a voice, donors need to be clear about how they intend to influence this process and what role they intend to play. Members of the WP-GEN have identified the need for a partnership model of development that emphasises leadership by partners and local actors (governments, national women’s machineries, NGOs and women’s organisations, and the private sector). Members can play a supportive role in policy dialogue, programming on institution building and the development of national capacity. This includes building the expertise to analyse and reduce gender disparities. Members’ activities with developing country-based partners include a number of initiatives to build expertise in the analysis and reduction of gender inequalities, particularly through advisory support, providing training and the dissemination of guidelines and other tools.2.4 ParticipationIncreasingly, organisations are taking the value of participatory approaches seriously as a way to ensure local ownership. One of the major challenges facing donors using a SWAps approach is to ensure participation of a wide range of stakeholders in policy dialogue as well as equity of access to services. Participatory methods have become important at the project level but only have they recently been used as an input into the policy process (such as in the Poverty Reduction Strategies – see the section on poverty). But though participatory approaches are promoted as inclusive, they are also subject to criticism as often ignoring women’s worlds, needs and contributions to development. Even when approaches are deemed gender-sensitive, there are dangers of slippage between gender-sensitive participatory approaches and those that focus on women in isolation of their relations with men (Andrea Cornwall, Institute of Development Studies).4 All organisations consulted for this overview prioritised the need to build capacity for women’s groups and other gender advocates to influence policy at national and local levels. Many agencies have supported women’s groups in the past and increasing attention is being given to increasing their political voice, particularly where decentralisation processes are in motion. The Gender and Development Network (UK) identified advocacy capacity building for local women’s organisation as a priority intervention into the Poverty Reduction Strategies process. DGIS (Netherlands) has been particularly proactive in the building of partnerships on an equal basis, and for genuine participation in SWAps. In order to build capacity in this area they have produced guidelines of 'Dos and Don'ts' in sectoral approaches focusing on SWAps as a process, the different phases (including sector reform), the participation of stakeholders and staffing issues. It is important to note that direct beneficiary consultations is quite different to developing the analysis that is required to make systems more responsive, empowering and inclusive. Factors such as policy dialogue, decentralisation, institutional capacity building and effective gender analysis as well as monitoring and evaluation are crucial in ensuring the achievement of this goal.2.5 Decentralisation Maintaining a level of coherence while at the same time ensuring a government commitment to decentralised planning and governance at the local level will pose a considerable challenge. Local level planning does not in itself guarantee flexible responsive administrations. Much effort has to be made to ensure that local level concerns are fed upwards rather than centralised plans being imposed from above. Local structures need to have the capacity to find contextual solutions to gender inequality. Successful decentralisation needs effective decentralised institutions in urban and rural areas able to take over responsibilities that used to be national government controlled.The Ministry of Finance, National Planning Units, and sectoral line ministries have an important role to play in ensuring consistency throughout the sector as well as for cross- sectoral coordination and support, while at the same time avoiding top-down processes that preclude possibilities for participation from a range of stakeholders at the meso and micro level. To what extent this consistency includes a focus on gender equality will depend on the level of national political will and donor commitment. The WP-GEN gender review (2000) highlighted the fact that decentralisation processes further emphasise the need for gender specialist field staff. The extent to which an organisation has a presence in the field and maintains links with it clearly affects the nature of its gender mainstreaming approaches. Danida is undergoing a decentralisation process with pilot programmes running in four embassies. Likewise, GTZ and DGIS are undergoing their own decentralisation processes whilst also considering how they can be harnessed to ensure women and men can influence and shape local policy according to their specific needs and interests. Decentralisation processes with a distinct gender perspective are being supported by GTZ in Mali and Mauritania. 2.6 Projects and componentsAlthough many donors are shifting their emphasis from project support to policy and budgetary support a sector approach can also be supported through projects. ‘In practice many forms of assistance designed to support effective sector policy and functioning of sector institutions will remain ‘projectised’, in the sense of the bureaucratic instruments used to deliver support’ (Norton and Bird, 1998, p11). Projects can cover a range of activities from5 institutional capacity development projects such as support for gender training to projects that help build the capacity of specific social groups and civil society organisations (CSOs) to effectively articulate demands for relevant services and policies. DFID have proposed the following distinctions for different components of the sector-wide approach:  sector-wide thinking: this applies to projects within a given sector which, while they may only apply to small fields of action, act to reinforce the coherence of institutions, budgets and policy in the sector as a whole - and thereby improve broader development outcomes beyond the scope of the project concerned;  sector-wide working: this implies a move to actions designed with the specific objective of strengthening the coherence of institutions, budgets, stakeholder relationships and policy (often as a preparatory phase before moving to sector-wide instruments);  sector-wide instruments: this covers various forms of pooling of resources between donors and public bodies, including budgetary support as described above.If projects are to support SWAps then they need to be designed in a way that will not impede the development of coherent policy and institutional frameworks as well as national and regional level policy. Creating linkages between programmes, projects and institutions at the local, regional and national level will also help to ensure that policy will be translated into action on the ground. 2.7 Accountability For many organisations gender equality 'policy evaporation' is a critical problem - commitments on paper fail to be implemented. The spread of responsibility and accountability for gender equality issues is the key to better implementation, backed up with capacity building. This works at all institutional levels within sector approaches, including within the development cooperation agencies themselves. SWAps also offer the chance to make governments accountable, and to state explicitly their public resources commitments to essential services such as health and education and how they impact on women and men. This can be done through: clearly defined goals and targets, which are properly monitored and resourced in both financial and technical terms;  allocation of budgets and analysis of gendered impacts (see themes – budgets);  staff incentives and rewards which encourage the inclusion of gender equality implications into their work.2.8 Monitoring and evaluation Monitoring and evaluation are particularly problematic areas for most development organisations, irrespective of the gender dimension. Systematic mechanisms are essential to anchor accountability and measure performance. There remains an acute need for gender equality indicators, particularly qualitative indicators and those measuring impact (rather than input). This includes indicators for the macro-level, newer areas of development cooperation, and for measuring qualitative aspects of, for example, education sectoral work (including the gender-sensitivity of curricula, quality of teaching). Effective information systems are needed to generate disaggregated data on the impact of gender mainstreaming and SWAps. Whilst the education sector has made most progress there remains a lack of sufficient data to measure gender impact. In general, capacity needs to be built and good practice shared in developing indicators and collecting and using gender disaggregated data. The WP-GEN6 Gender Review called for further multi-donor initiatives that can build on the work of, for example, CIDA on gender-sensitive indicators.BRIDGE research for Danida into the formal evaluation of gender programmes and gender mainstreaming within the UN system highlighted the need for further work - both in terms of provision of funding for gender evaluations and the building of capacity in evaluating/auditing. There is no one established mechanism for the systematic review of gender mainstreaming within the UN Secretariat and other UN entities. Agencies tend to initiate their own reviews (ad hoc or in response to institutional review processes) such as the UNDP Gender in Development Programme currently being reviewed. Whilst the research focused on UN organisations, the need to evaluate formally the effectiveness of gender programmes and mainstreaming within National Women Machineries, Governments, sectoral ministries (and implementing bodies at other levels), development cooperation agencies and NGOs should also be considered.7 3. KEY THEMES3.1 PovertyDAC members have agreed to pursue with their developing country partners the goal of reducing the proportion of people, both women and men, living in extreme poverty by at least one-half by the year 2015. Women are amongst those most affected by the problems of poverty and there is also a general recognition that as economic actors they are key to reducing poverty and to improving the effectiveness of poverty reduction programmes. Development agencies are beginning to recognise the diversity of experiences of poverty and that poverty does not just relate to income and nutritional intake, but may include aspects such as personal security and freedom from violence. The significant attention given currently to globalisation highlights not only the fact that change brought about through, for example, globalisation and migration, can result in increased poverty but also may provide the opportunity for positive changes in gender relations as more people become aware of the international debate on gender inequality. Many development institutions are also looking at ways to support governments and civil society actors effectively engage in the process of producing a Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). The World Bank and the IMF have linked access to concessional lending and debt relief to the development of a poverty reduction strategy. With the introduction of the PRSPs the World Bank have acknowledged the importance of national ownership of strategies and the participation of civil society in formulating such national policy to tackle poverty. PRSPs face a considerable challenge to integrate gender analysis into poverty diagnosis. They also have to ensure that participatory consultation and planning processes are specifically designed to address gender biases that limit people from all sectors of society participating in national policy processes. Although there has been limited initial success, the PRS process does provide entry points for participation by a range of civil society actors at each stage of its development. The recently produced PRSP gender guidelines (World Bank web site) advise on gender- sensitive participatory approaches at the poverty diagnostic stage and in developing responsive, gender-based policy and priority interventions. They also provide guidelines for participatory monitoring of indicators and tracking gender-differentiated impact of PRSP actions. No mechanism currently exists within the World Bank to ensure that the guidelines are adhered to. Therefore it is critical that other stakeholders such as NGOs, donors, the international community, trade unions, and women’s groups advocate that the PRSP incorporates a gender perspective. In Kenya, for example, the Collaborative Centre for Gender and Development successfully lobbied for the inclusion of gender experts in the national stakeholder dialogue on priorities for the PRSP. Members of the British-based Gender and Development Network recently decided to prioritise the PRS process as a focal point for action. They recognised the need to help build the capacity of civil society organisations to participate in the production of PRSPs.3.2 Gender-specific aspects of globalisation At the UN 23rd Session concerns were raised about short-sighted policies that support gender equality while creating macroeconomic policies that ignore the realities of women's lives. Women have been affected as consumers and as workers by the impact of globalisation and structural adjustment programmes (SAPs), through the high costs of external debt servicing, the declining terms of trade for some developing countries, and the decreasing levels of funding available through international cooperation. These issues have8 been brought into many discussions, including in the Beijing+5 and World Summit for Social Development +5 processes and have been mentioned as a high priority in most bilateral and multilateral organisations and NGO discussions to date. All have acknowledged that the negative consequences of budget cuts of basic social services have fallen disproportionately on women. Such difficulties are reflected in the shift of the cost of social protection, social security and other welfare provisions from the public sector to the household. The 23rd Session emphasised the need to ensure equal access to social protection and for equal participation of women in macro-economic decision-making. NGOs considered this one of the key successes of the Session (see sections below on Macroeconomics and budgets). Limited funding has led to innovations in the allocation of resources through the gender analysis of public budgets (by both governments and civil society organisations), which is emerging as an important tool for determining the differential impact of expenditures on women and men to help ensure equitable use of existing resources. Three areas will now be examined in relation to globalisation processes: macroeconomics (including trade); gender budgets; and livelihoods and economic empowerment. See also the section on the private sector for corporate responsibility and entrepreneurship development.3.2.1 Macroeconomics (including trade) As mentioned above an important area of concern is the impact that macroeconomics has on men and women and also the need to include women in macro-economic decision- making (by bilaterals and multilaterals alike). Conceptual and empirical work on gender and macroeconomics has begun to have an effect on policy-making and planning and applied work in the field. Increasing women’s voice in macro-economic decision-making will involve increasing the number of women in international organisations as well as governments.Current and future strategies Information systems - national statistical systems are now attempting to incorporate measurements of women’s unpaid labour in satellite national accounts and several agencies are in the process of collating information and sex-disaggregated data on the effect that macro-economic polices have on women and men (UNIFEM/World Bank/ UNDP/DGIS/UN). Areas covered include: the effect of volatile international aid, capital flows, trade liberalisation, debt relief and budget cuts on men and women. The UN’s Wistat database has been updated this year and provides the most comprehensive source of sex-disaggregated data with international coverage.  Gender analysis of government population censuses (UNDP).  Assessing the impact of macro-economic processes including trade policy on women to aid the incorporation of a gender perspective in policies (UNIFEM, The Commonwealth Secretariat).  Building the capacity of gender specialists in macro-economic issues (the Utstein Group of countries).  Training women to understand the complexities of trade agreements (UNIFEM).  Women entrepreneurs – encouraging women to participate not just in small sector enterprises but also creating the conditions that allow women to trade at the meso and macro levels and in cross border trade (International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Career Development (ICECD), UNCTAD, UNDP and UNIFEM).  Increasing the visibility of women in trade at all levels - the ILO is currently developing a knowledge base of information about women entrepreneurs (see also the section on the private sector).9  Providing tools - the OECD/DAC has recently published a volume on gender and economic reform in development cooperation which presents frameworks, concepts, and tools for integrating gender into macro-economic policy, sector support programmes and market liberalisation and reform. In addition, a glossary of macroeconomics from a gender perspective has been produced by BRIDGE (commissioned by GTZ as part of a DAC initiative).3.2.2 Gender budgets Gender budgets or women’s budgets are a way to respond to the decreasing availability of resources and the unequal effects this has on men and women. This has become a new priority area for many bilaterals and multilaterals. UNIFEM sees budget reform as a way to ensure that governments’ commitments to gender equality are backed up by financial resources. Advocates in this field are keen to assess current donor budgets as well as government budgets as a starting point for making them more gender responsive. The work in this area was originally pioneered in Australia and taken up by the Women’s Budget Initiative in South Africa that has now inspired many such programmes. Whilst most work has been done at the national level, attention is starting to move to local level budgets as political decentralisation processes continue. Current and future strategies The Commonwealth Secretariat's 'Engendering budgets' programme is currently piloting 'in-government' national-level gender budget initiatives in South Africa, Sri Lanka and Barbados.  Work in South Africa (Forum for Women in Democracy), Tanzania (Tanzania Gender Networking Programme) and Uganda (Centre for Basic Research, Makerere University) is now including local level budgetary analysis.  Capacity building - UNIFEM has been supporting initiatives to build capacity for gender budget initiatives in Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean Island states, among NGOs, parliamentarians, government officials and academic researchers. GTZ have supported the production of a training manual in budgetary gender analysis.3.2.3 Livelihoods and economic empowerment Economic empowerment is still seen as a critical way to ensure that men and women are less vulnerable to poverty. However, academic work by feminist economists such as Diane Elson (GENECON, Manchester University) has been important in identifying labour markets as gendered institutions. Discrimination in labour laws, trade unions, systems of job grading and discretion in the way payment systems apply to women is highlighted. Labour markets link the 'productive economy' and the 'reproductive economy' in a way that operates to the disadvantage of women who carry out most of the work in the reproductive economy. Traditionally the main focus of development organisations has been on increasing women’s access to credit and employment opportunities. However at the 23rd Session delegates strengthened their commitment to also establishing inheritance and property rights and gain women’s equal access to housing. Current and future strategies Diane Elson has coordinated the new UNIFEM Progress of the World's Women 2000 publication which focuses on the economic empowerment of women. This makes a significant contribution towards making the connections between women and economics accessible to non-economists, and has a particular focus on women and work.  Providing education and training for women entrepreneurs (UNIFEM, ILO, Southern NGOs including Association of Women’s organisations in Mozambique (ACTIVA) and10 the Caribbean Association of Women Entrepreneurs (CAWE)). For example, CAWE focuses their training on strategic and operational management and the use of computer software.  Lobbying governments on legislation that effects women entrepreneurs (ACTIVA).  Enhanced capacity of local, national and regional stakeholders to understand the inter- linkages between gender, poverty and employment, and to develop, implement and assess anti-poverty and employment policies and programmes which contribute to gender equality (ILO).  Improving the quality of work that men and women do through more choice, skills acquisition and training, enhancing the demand for female labour and improving women’s awareness of employment opportunities (ILO).  Links between women’s work and other areas – for example, the ILO international programme on more and better jobs for women explores the links between women’s employment and the reduction of child labour. (see also section on Macroeconomics, Vocational training, and the Agriculture sector)3.3 Knowledge managementProviding a knowledge base of quantitative and qualitative sex-disaggregated information is important for effective gender mainstreaming. Most organisations consulted in this overview are involved in generating and disseminating information as part of their work on gender. Current and future strategies Much work is being conducted on collecting, collating, analysing and disseminating gender-disaggregated data in relation to inputs (e.g. budgets), outputs and outcomes. This is vital for effective gender analysis.  Instruments, tools, data, best practice examples, and guidelines are being developed to help practitioners and government staff operationalise a gender approach.  Agencies such as UNCTAD that do not have a strong capacity to act on gender concerns are concentrating on supporting other agencies’ dissemination of information. UNCTAD are supporting INSTRAW’s database of gender information - GAINS. Bilateral agencies (such as Danida, DFID, Sida and SDC) are supporting the BRIDGE Gender Knowledge Programme in order to pool funding and minimise duplication of research and dissemination efforts.3.4 Information and communications technologies (ICTs)This is an issue that has been given much prominence partly due to the World Bank’s global knowledge programme that seeks to increase the poor’s access to ICTs. They are also at the forefront of agencies’ current strategies to aid the development and dissemination of their gender knowledge base and hence support gender mainstreaming efforts within their own organisations and partner organisations. Current and future strategiesICTs can bring great advances by: enabling local women entrepreneurs, small and medium-size, to present and sell their products through the Internet (e-commerce);  allowing for interactive teaching and long distance education and training, supported by radio and multimedia packages i.e. videos, suitable also for illiterate women;11  empowering through networking small players such as women’s NGOs. This latter objective has been supported by INSTRAW, UNDP and many NGOs such as WomenAction. The UNDP are up-scaling experiments already conducted in this area.However, there is considerable inequality between men’s and women’s access to ICTs. So programmes are being developed to assess the impact of ICTs and to increase women’s access to ICTs as well as training women in their use. UNIFEM has recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the UNDP and International Telecommunications Union. The agreement guarantees that the impact of information and communications technologies (ICTs) on women is incorporated in policy dialogue and decision-making. The agencies will encourage governments and the telecommunications industry to recruit, employ, train and advance women's fair and equitable access to ICTs. Private companies such as Cisco, who are part of the World Bank initiated Global Knowledge programme are also looking into increasing women’s access to ICTs.Agencies such as DFID, UNIFEM and INSTRAW have used the Internet to collate and disseminate tools, research, data, best practice examples and guidelines for mainstreaming a gender perspective. For example, DFID is soon to launch a Gender Equality Mainstreaming web site, which will complement the two new web-based resources from BRIDGE.3.5 Conflict and emergenciesDelegates at the 23rd Session identified the under-representation, at all levels, of women in decision-making positions - such as special envoys or special representatives of the Secretary-General in peacekeeping, peace-building, post-conflict reconciliation and reconstruction - as well as a lack of gender awareness in these areas, as critical obstacles to effective responses to conflict and post-conflict situations. There has also been a failure to provide sufficient resources and to adequately distribute these resources, to address the needs of increasing numbers of refugees - who are mostly women and children - particularly to developing countries hosting large numbers of refugees. Gender equality concerns in relation to emergency situations more generally need more work in terms of research, policy and supporting implementation.Current and future strategies The development of a strategic framework to provide an overall rationale and policy and programmatic coherence to disparate international interventions, which will also help coordinate meaningful donor coordination (USAID).  Agencies working in the area of conflict emphasise that international assistance should not merely mitigate harmful effects of conflict but also attempt to transform gender relations by seizing opportunities for women’s advancement. For example USAID’s framework incorporated the following three elements: increasing access to resources, enhancing physical security, and promoting political empowerment.  Other agencies are also seeking ways to encourage women’s increased presence and influence in peace processes (Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Sub-Working Group (SWG) on Gender and Humanitarian Assistance).  Post-conflict reconstruction – building communities and a political environment conducive to reducing poverty (UNIFEM).  Supporting women and women’s organisations in post-conflict societies. This is particularly important as studies have shown the importance of social networks and organisations for women to rebuild lives and communities in post-conflict situations, particularly when they have had to leave their homes. 12  The World Food Programme (WFP) has played a major role in the management of the SWG on Gender and Humanitarian Assistance established in 1998 by the IASC, along with the co-chair UNICEF. In the process the SWG has achieved passage of a policy statement on gender in humanitarian assistance, based on a background paper, and is now providing a consultant to the country assistance programme process in Congo and Somalia.3.6 The environmentDespite international commitment to Agenda 215, gender and environmental issues, and gender and sustainable development in general, have been given little attention recently by bilateral or multilateral agencies. This could be due to the relatively little attention given to the issue during the Beijing +5 process. As Sida points out, the examination of gender equality mainstreaming in environmental programming is complicated by the multiple ways agencies work with environmental issues: in natural resource management initiatives, in explicitly environmental programmes (such as capacity development for environment programming), and in viewing the environment as a crosscutting theme.Current and future strategies Gender aware planning and women’s participation in the development of national strategies for sustainable development (DFID).  Secure tenure rights in line with gender equity (DFID).  Ensure that gender planning and access to natural resources is gender aware. This requires improved data and research (DFID). The Caucus of Non-Government Organisations of the NGO Steering Committee to the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development concerned with gender and sustainable development issues identified the following emerging issues and gaps: integrating gender and environment concerns into development;  gender-mainstreaming of environmental policies and programmes, including addressing the gender-specific impact of environmental degradation and conservation;  women's participation in environmental decision- and policy-making;  women's environmental health, including in relation to chemicals and biotechnology;  gender-specific aspects of environmental security issues, e.g. potential conflicts related to transboundary water courses and women's significant role in freshwater supply in many countries;  environmental refugees today constitute the majority of refugees and the majority of them are women with their children.3.7 CEDAW and human rightsInternational regulatory frameworks have encouraged government commitment to gender equality and the 23rd Session further strengthened delegates’ commitments in a number of areas of human rights (see other sections). A priority area is to encourage delegates’ countries to sign up to the optional protocol. The protocol safeguards the right to appeal alleged violations of the Convention and the possibility for the monitoring committee of the5 Agenda 21 was adopted at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 3 to 14 June 1992. It is a comprehensive plan of action to be taken globally, nationally and locally by organisations of the United Nations System, governments, and major groups in every area in which humans impact on the environment.13 Convention to conduct investigations on its own initiative in connection with potential violations of the Convention.Current and future strategies Training workshops and supporting materials are being used to ensure that government institutions internalise CEDAW and other human rights instruments, for example UNICEF training workshops with governments. The UNDP, UNIFEM and many NGOs have also conducted considerable advocacy work to raise the profile of international regulatory frameworks. Denmark was one of the first states to ratify the voluntary supplementary protocol to the CEDAW Convention.3.8 Good governanceAt the 23rd Session governments were called upon to instigate quotas and other measures to increase women’s participation in political parties and parliaments, particularly indigenous women and women from marginalised communities. In the context of decentralisation, the need to boost women's involvement in local level politics is particularly important. In addition, the establishment of strong political commitment to gender equality is one of the most pressing concerns highlighted by gender advocates and members of the WP-GEN involved in work on SWAps. Recognition of the international human rights framework in a country’s constitutional and policy frameworks helps to create the conditions for political support. A number of agencies are seeking to build political will and local and national government capacity.Work by BRIDGE (1999) on gender, governance and the 'feminisation of poverty' (commissioned by UNDP) outlines some broad principles for development cooperation to support increased accountability of institutions to poor women:  The apparent gender neutrality of governance structures and processes should be questioned at all levels in order to identify constraints to gender equitable outcomes.  The different forms in which women organise, and varied issues around which they mobilise (particularly at the local level), need to be recognised as political processes. Institutional spaces need to be created for women’s gender interests to be voiced, for example in local government.  Incorporating a gender perspective into governance analysis and policy responses should not be restricted to any one domain (e.g. civil society) but should cut across all domains, and make links between them.  Higher priority should be given in governance debates to issues of family governance not as a separate ‘women’s’ domain, but in recognition of the ways that gender biases in this domain permeate wider social institutions.Current and future strategies Agencies such as the UNDP and UNIFEM have focused on encouraging more women into politics, but are only now beginning to discuss ways of evaluating the effectiveness and impact of this strategy. They are considering using independent think tanks to explore the impact of women in politics.  Many Southern and Northern-based NGOs are actively working on getting more women into local politics and local decision-making more generally. This includes the Participatory Research Society in Asia (PRIA) working at the village level in India, and14 the Active Learning Centre funded by the British Council supporting the development of advocacy skills for women politicians and local women's organisations.  Assess ways to increase communications between parliamentarians and constituents and national women’s machinery (UNIFEM).  Gender-sensitive analysis of budgets (and their impact) are increasingly being used as a tool for holding government (at all levels) to account.  Policy dialogue throughout the entire process of programmes has been highlighted as crucial by the WP-GEN members involved in evaluating best practice work in SWAps.3.9 Violence against women (VAW)Tackling violence against women is still high on the agenda of development organisations, particularly the international trafficking of women and girls. Changes brought about under conflict and globalisation, including migration both forced and voluntary have often resulted in the increased exposure of women to violence. However, it could also be argued that globalisation has resulted in domestic violence being highlighted as an area of international concern and a social problem that political institutions are obligated to address. In fact at the 23rd Session honour killings and forced marriages were addressed for the first time in an international consensus document. Other areas given attention by the delegates at the 23rd Session included dowry-related violence, marital rape and all forms of domestic violence. Strategies identified tended to involve changes in legislation.Current and future strategiesMost donor work on VAW has focused on changes in legislation and judiciary and police training. However increasing attention is being given to preventative work, such as: educating school children (work in Bangladesh supported by Danida, Southern and Northern NGOs, international NGOs such as the White Ribbon Campaign);  use of media campaigns (mainly NGOs);  media responsibility - multilaterals and bilaterals are also beginning to consider media responsibility in affecting the incidences of violence against women.Considerable donor support for work tackling violence against women has been channelled through UNIFEM. They have addressed VAW holistically, supporting national, regional and global efforts aimed at improved policies, prevention and protection. UNIFEM has provided funds for Southern NGOs who are addressing VAW. The international NGO Oxfam, after much internal advocacy work, has also just put violence against women as a key organisational priority.Several programmes supported by agencies such as Save the Children, the ILO, DFID, UNICEF, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and a range of NGOs, have attempted to address the problem of trafficking. Unfortunately an effective international strategy has been hampered by disagreements over whether to consider prostitution as a legitimate form of work or a form of violence against women. Work done so far has focused on helping those that want to return do so and providing services such as job skill training, counselling, and health services, to enable them to successfully reintegrate into society. Less work has been done on prosecuting people and reforming organisations involved in trafficking. Sectoral approaches have largely failed to give significant attention to VAW. Even where institutions have seen it as relevant, strategies have not been clearly defined. Even the WP- GEN members have paid insufficient attention to the issue. In the work conducted on health SWAps, VAW is considered as one of a range of factors that prevent women accessing15 health services and there is some recognition that health workers are crucial in helping survivors of violence avoid abusive situations. The fact that relatively little attention is given to VAW is surprising considering all the recent work done by the WHO and PANOS, UNDP and others on how health workers can respond to VAW. There has however been an important initiative within the transport sector in Lima (sponsored by the World Bank): a workshop has recently been conducted on how sexual harassment affects women’s use of transport facilities and how facilities can be designed to minimise women’s risk of harassment.A representative of the WP-GEN Task Force emphasised the need to have a flexible approach to SWAps rather than a rigid framework that would allow for issues such as VAW to be dealt with as they arise. However, this kind of approach may lead to the issue being ignored altogether. 3.10 Men and masculinitiesAn increasing volume of research, academic discussions and publications are being devoted to the issue of men and masculinities in relation to gender and development. For a truly gendered approach it is necessary to examine the relations between women and men, and in turn to understand local ideas of femininity (i.e. what it is to be a woman) and masculinity (i.e. what it is to be a man) for effective interventions. There are now coalitions in place between academics and practitioners interested in linking the theory to practical applications and their impact. However development cooperation agencies’ activities have not been affected to any great degree. To date most agency attention and action on men and masculinities has concentrated on men's role in violence against women, and in sexual and reproductive health, for example HIV/AIDS. WHO and the 23rd Session delegates highlighted the need for programmes to encourage men to practice safer sex. Current and future strategies Academic work in the UK (University of East Anglia, IDS and Bradford) and in the Netherlands has started to map out the conceptual understanding of masculinities and undertake case study research. Outcomes have included publications, such as an issue of the IDS Bulletin and Oxfam’s Gender and Development journal, and ESRC funded Men and Masculinity seminars across the UK.  UNICEF has done considerable work assessing men’s role in families, including their role in improving the nutritional status of children. It has also undertaken work with male youths in order to redefine masculinities.  More recently SDC, DFID, ILO, GTZ and the OECD/DAC are mentioning the issue of men and masculinities as an area they wish to develop, identifying a need for further research and need for capacity building exercises. For example SDC ran workshops on the issue in 1999 and in September 2000 and DFID have included Men and Masculinity as a section within their Gender Equality Mainstreaming website. There has been a lot of interest in the work of local NGOs working with violent men, such as Puntos in Nicaragua. However, some concern has been expressed by NGOs that donor agencies are becoming too interested in initiatives relating to the rehabilitation of the male 'perpetrators' of violence rather than focusing on the 'victims' of violence. 3.11 HIV/AIDSHIV/AIDS is no longer just a health problem, but is a developmental crisis with potentially devastating consequences for the social and economic progress of many countries.16 HIV/AIDS was considered to be one of the most pressing issues at the 23rd Session and this is reflected in the attention given to the issue by development institutions. Current and future strategies Community-based research to determine the gender related socio-economic impact of HIV/AIDS (UNIFEM).  Community based training and awareness raising around the issue of AIDS (developed by ActionAid and recently taken up by UNAIDS).  The ILO is developing a Programme of Action in Africa to help combat the spread of HIV/AIDS and provide protection and support to its victims. Men and HIV/AIDS UNAIDS has recently launched a campaign to involve men more fully in the effort against HIIV/AIDS and to bring about a new, much-needed, focus on men in national responses to the epidemic. The campaign also seeks to get HIV/AIDS discussed in schools. The campaign has three objectives:  to encourage men and women to talk openly about sexuality, sex, drug use and HIV/AIDS;  to encourage men to take care of themselves, their partners and their families;  and to promote programmes that respond to the needs of both men and women.UNAIDS recently set up a round table in Mozambique, which discussed the relationship between violence against women and HIV/AIDS. In Burkina Faso the round table brought together a range of national and international organisations and focused on gaining the support of community leaders in encouraging men to take responsibility for sexual and reproductive health. Another round table is planned for Tanzania aimed at enlisting the support of journalists in raising awareness around the issue. In Nigeria the round table will aim to get parliamentarians and people living with AIDS together. However, the campaign has faced considerable resistance in many countries that do not condone talking openly about sexuality.17 4. KEY SECTORS4.1 HealthAt the 23rd Special Session maternal mortality was made a health sector priority. Other areas that were given prominence were education programmes encouraging men to practice safer sex, the need to look at gender aspects of diseases such as malaria and TB, and health sector reform (including the impact on women’s access to health services). Other issues given more attention include drug use, mental health, HIV/AIDS (see section on HIV/AIDS) and tobacco use. Delegates also affirmed the goals of the International Conference on Population and Development. Current and future strategiesThere has also been quite a bit of work focused on the health sector and health sector reforms (WHO, WP-GEN and the World Bank). Organisations such as UNIFEM and the WP- GEN working in the field of health have begun to emphasise the critical importance of women as providers of health care services at the household level, and therefore emphasise the need to evaluate how polices and reforms affect their burden of care. Because of a gendered perspective there is also more consideration given to constraints on women’s access to services. Although not enough attention has been given to the issue, violence against women (VAW) and living in fear of violence has been recognised as a crucial barrier to the ability of women to access effective health care. It is also recognised as a significant determinant of women’s well-being. There has also been some attention given to health care workers’ role in providing advice and other forms of assistance to survivors of VAW.4.2 EducationIn April 2000, the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan launched a new global initiative to educate girls at the World Education Forum in Dakar. The target is to demonstrably narrow the gender gap in primary and secondary education by 2005, and ensure that by 2015 both girls and boys will be able to complete primary schooling and have equal access to all levels of education. A huge amount of progress is needed if this is to be achieved. However, whilst education participation levels remain important, the quality of education and equity in educational opportunities are coming to the fore of the agenda. Indeed a broader concept of education is now accepted that recognises the need for multiple delivery systems (both formal and non-formal). Current and future strategiesConsiderable efforts have been made by development cooperation agencies to mainstream gender within the education sector over the past five years. The 'twin-track' approach to mainstreaming tends to be taken which includes support to special projects that redress persistent inequalities in girls' educational opportunities. Institutional efforts have been supported not only by the formalisation of gender equality education objectives but also by the development of guidelines on 'how to' mainstream a gender perspective into education initiatives. Serious attention is now being given to taking up gender equality issues in policy dialogue with partner governments.Whilst education quality and learning outcomes have made the education agenda, the main preoccupation of education policies remains improving participation rates for girls and women. Other concerns are girls' retention and achievement, the quality of teaching and the18 quantity of women teachers, and the gender-sensitivity of staff, curriculum, and learning materials. Some attention has been given to the provision of training to women in a range of areas, for example, health education, political processes, and technical and vocational training (see section on vocational training). The most prominent area currently is training women to use information and communications technology (ICTs) (see section on ICTs). Education programmes more recently entail multi-donor involvement in the restructuring of national education sector policies, expenditures and institutions. In this context an important donor responsibility is to ensure that education policies clearly profile gender concerns. These SWAps are relatively new and so far clear results of gender mainstreaming success are limited. Further encouragement is required to build on the good practice to date - a role taken up by WP-GEN through its current case study research on the role SWAps can take in advancing gender equality in education (led by DFID). The findings point to the need for clear goals and targets that are properly resourced - both financially and technically - in the areas of retention, attendance (participation), achievement, and transition to post-primary opportunities. EC DG Development, DFID, NORAD and USAID, for example, emphasise the importance of the holistic perspective of SWAps to their gender equality work.To ensure gender mainstreaming, development cooperation agencies will have to address issues that are outside of the framework of institutions usually understood to comprise the sector. There are some examples of initiatives to address barriers to access, which derive from the broader social and political environment (e.g. initiatives to escort girls to school in some parts of India). Such cross-sectoral work is becoming increasingly important. Education is now recognised as an important way to change attitudes about violence against women and educate people, particularly adolescents, about sexual and reproductive health. NGOs - both Southern and Northern (with the support of development cooperation agencies) - have led the field in this area. However Danida is also supporting education in Bangladeshi schools on the issue of violence against women. UNAIDS is trying to encourage education in schools on HIV/AIDS as part of its campaign to get people to talk about AIDS.4.3 AgricultureDevelopment agencies have generally acknowledged that women farmers play a central role in household food security and agriculture development and therefore recognise the shortsightedness of channeling resources to the male household head only. Current and future strategiesThe World Bank and donors including DFID, GTZ and NORAD have supported the provision of appropriate extension services to women farmers as well as men. The World Bank for example aims to:  broaden the scope of research and extension activities to include tasks and decisions where women played an active role;  train all extension agents on gender issues;  increase the number of female extension agents;  monitor the participation of women farmers in extension activities.NORAD has also supported a programme that focuses particularly on providing services for men and women in the subsistence sector.The Siavonga Agriculture Development Project in Zambia, supported by GTZ succeeded in changing the extension process from a top-down approach into a gender-sensitive and participation oriented action planning with communities. Supported by a gender specialist,19 the project adopted a sensitive participatory extension approach (GPEA) by developing adequate tools and lobbying for the approach among senior staff.Some donors are supporting reforms to land entitlements (Costa Rica and Kenya) and strategies to improve resource flows to women farmers through such mechanisms as credit provision (DFID and the World Bank). However there has been inadequate attention given to the complexities of gendered ownership and control over resources such as land and water. Moreover, the focus of strategies in the agriculture sector have tended not to explore the interdependence of women and men farmers and have focused on either men or women in isolation. The growing importance of agriculture SWAps has elicited strong interest among donors and the NGO community for a systematic integration of gender issues into agriculture SWAps (ASps). Currently there is little or no experience in mainstreaming gender ASps, therefore the World Bank recently prepared a paper for the DAC WP-GEN to assist in developing general guidelines. This research, led by the World Bank, cites the Kenyan ASp as one that successfully linked capacity building on gender to consultation with stakeholders in the private sector and civil society.4.4 Private sector4.4.1 Corporate accountability Globalisation has led to a reduced role for the state as a means of regulating labour markets, ensuring economic and social rights and making provisions for gender equity. Therefore corporate social responsibility and instruments such as company codes of conduct have recently been identified as important mechanisms for addressing the economic and social rights of women and men within a market environment. So far there has been little conceptual and analytical work on gender and corporate accountability although this is a topic currently being explored by researchers at IDS in collaboration with a range of international and southern-based NGOs. One of the outcomes of this work has been the recent International Workshop on Gender Equity and Public and Corporate Accountability (18 - 21 September 2000, IDS) in order to map out the central issues and debates. Outside this, most work relates to codes of conduct and specific initiatives such as the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI, UK), or case studies of industries or firms. Codes so far have primarily focused on corporate responsibility for labour standards in global supply chains of consumer items (such as toys and clothing).Current and future strategies Advocacy efforts to ensure corporate codes of conduct are gendered. Codes can cover one or more firms (such as The Gap clothing retailer), a country (such as Nicaragua) and sectoral codes (e.g. covering the toy industry). (DFID, Christian Aid, Women Working Worldwide, CIPAF (Dominican Republic), and the Central American Women's Network).  Ongoing research undertaken by Christian Aid and Dr Stephanie Barrientos (IDS) examines the gender dimension of horticultural employment, and is looking at grape production in South Africa for the UK retail market (Barrientos et al 1999). The emphasis is on the effectiveness of codes of conduct on ethical trade, particularly in relation to the ETI.  The encouragement of investment in publicly listed companies that demonstrate a commitment to the empowerment of women (UNIFEM).20 4.4.2 Vocational training The provision of pre-employment and on-the-job training and re-training in vocational and technical skills has been recognised as an effective labour market policy not only for enhancing the employability of workers and boosting efficiency and growth, but also as a crucial equal opportunity strategy. Women face disadvantages in training because the demand for female labour is concentrated in unskilled jobs and the informal sector where the provisions for training are poor and under-represented in jobs that provide better opportunities for training. Current and future strategiesThe ILO lead the field in gender aware vocational training and support the following measures: setting targets (quota percentages or actual numbers) for girls in various types of training programmes, particularly those which are not stereotypically female vocations;  special measures to facilitate the entry of workers with family responsibilities into labour market based training and retraining programmes;  flexibility in the design, delivery and location of training courses and the provision of child care services;  specially targeted measures to provide entrepreneurship training for women in self- employment. Training provided to women not only in relevant skills but also in identification of business opportunities as part of a larger package including credit schemes and marketing support access to new technologies. (see also section on Economic empowerment)21 APPENDICESAppendix One - METHODOLOGYBRIDGE was commissioned to write a brief overview of the emerging issues post-Beijing+5 in policy, practice and theory, as input into the development of a new Danida gender strategy.Background research Background information was gained from recent publications on Denmark’s development policy and Danida’s recent work on integrating social development issues into SWAps. This was followed by a general review of the key areas of interest identified by delegates at the UN 23rd Session (2000) and by major development organisations. BRIDGE drew on select published resources and recent BRIDGE consultations with development agencies and academics on their work priorities. This provided a basis for more in-depth primary research on key areas of concern.Primary research Consultations were undertaken with leading gender advocates from a range of bilateral, multilateral, and NGO agencies. Contact was made by phone and email to identify the new gender issues being prioritised within their organisations:  ActionAid (Carol Miller)  Danida (Shireen Huq)  DFID (Phil Evans and Arjan de Haan)  DGIS (Bea ten Tusscher and Rita Tesslar)  GTZ (Bianca Schimmel)  ILO (Amy King de Jardin, Gerry Finnegan, Lin Lim)  ISS (Ria Brouwers)  Norad (Bodil Maal)  UNAIDS (Andrew Doupe)  UNCTAD (Gloria Veronica Koch, Anna Faelth)  UNDP (Aster Zaoude)  UNIFEM (Rosemary Kalapurakal, Jennifer Klot)  UNRISD (Shahara Razavi)  USAID (Mary Knox)  WFP (Gretchen Bloom).  Womenwatch (Karen Banks)  World Bank (Helene Carllsson, Monica Fong)  WP-GEN (Francesca Cook)As the primary coordinating group exploring gender mainstreaming in SWAps, the overview draws heavily on the work of the DAC Working Party on Gender Equality (WP-GEN). Discussions with Rita Tesslar, Ria Brouwers, and Francesca Cook helped to establish the WP-GEN's future work priorities on SWAps. The papers by various WP-GEN members provided comprehensive information on a range of donor work, particularly on SWAps.To understand the issues being explored in academia BRIDGE spoke to several academics from within and outside of IDS including: Ramya Subrahmanian (IDS Fellow), Karen Brock (Participation Group, IDS), Louise Hulton (Consultant and BRIDGE Researcher), Nicola Swainson (education consultant), and Barbara Evers (GENECON, Manchester University). An important source of information was the recent BRIDGE research work on current gender and development thinking (commissioned by SDC) which involved discussions with a number of leading gender and development academics.22 Further secondary research Key texts published by development agencies and academics were referred to (see bibliography) in order to expand on the information gained from the primary research. This was particularly the case with those agencies where contact had been initiated but no response had been received. This included CIDA, the Caucus of Non-Government Organisations of the NGO Steering Committee to the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development, UNICEF, Sida, Oxfam, INSTRAW, DAW, the EU, the UN, NORAD, and WHO. The outcome document from the 23rd Session detailed the critical areas of concern for delegates involved in the Beijing +5 process.Other research that has informed this overview include: the Review of Progress in the Implementation of the DAC High Level Policy Statement ‘Gender Equality: Moving Towards Sustainable, People-centred Development' researched and written by BRIDGE (2000);  the recent BRIDGE research (primary and secondary) for Danida on gender evaluation within the UN system (October 2000);  discussions and outputs from the IDS workshop (September 2000), ’Who pays for gender equity: public sector and corporate accountability’;  BRIDGE consultations with development cooperation agencies and ministries in order to shape the new BRIDGE Gender Knowledge Programme (2000).The bibliography identifies the most useful resources used to write the overview.The BRIDGE team Emma Bell (BRIDGE Research and Communications Assistant) was the primary researcher and writer, working in collaboration with Hazel Reeves (BRIDGE Manager), Catherine Brown (BRIDGE Administrative Assistant) and Samantha Hung (Gender Communications Officer).23 Appendix Two - BIBLIOGRAPHYGeneral Alexander, P. and Baden, S., 2000, ‘Glossary on macroeconomics from a gender perspective’, BRIDGE Report No 48, Brighton: IDSBaden, S., 1999, 'Gender, governance and the 'feminisation of poverty’, UNDP/BRIDGEBarrientos, S., 2000, ‘International organisations and standards – regulations and corporate accountability to women in a global economy’, report from an IDS workshop, September 2000, ‘Who pays for gender equity: public sector and corporate accountability to women’Barrientos, S., Orton, L. and McClenaghan, S., 1999, Gender and Codes of Conduct in South Africa, London: Christian AidBudlender, D. and Sharp, R. with Allen, K., 1998, ‘How to do a gender-sensitive budget analysis: contemporary research and practice’, Commonwealth Secretariat and AusAIDCommonwealth Secretariat, 1999, ‘Learning by sharing: Commonwealth plan of action on gender and development’, the Secretary-General’s report 1999 on the implementation of the 1995 Commonwealth Plan of Action on Gender and Development Cornwall, A., 2000, Making a difference? Gender and participatory development’, IDS Discussion Paper No 378, Brighton: IDSDAC Working Party on Gender Equality, 1999, ‘Proposed work programme: June 1999 – December 2000’, draftDAC Working Party on Gender Equality, 1999, ‘Reaching the goals in the S-21: gender equality and environment, volume II’, note submitted by SwedenDAC Working Party on Gender Equality, 2000, ‘Review of progress in the implementation of the DAC high-level policy statement “Gender Equality: Moving Towards Sustainable, People-centred Development”’, working draftDanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1999, ‘Equality in Denmark: towards a new millennium’, Danish National Responses to UN Questionnaire Prior to Beijing +5Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2000, ‘Gender equality in Danish development cooperation: a contribution to the revision of Danish development policy’, May 2000 Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2000, ‘Partnership 2000: Danish development policy’, draft analysis document Department for International Development (DFID), 2000, Poverty Elimination and the Empowerment of Women: Strategies for Achieving the International Development Targets, London: DFIDElson, D., 1999, 'Labour markets as gendered institutions: equality, efficiency and empowerment issues', World Development Vol 27 No 3Grover, S., 2000, ‘Men and masculinities: annotated bibliography’, mimeo, BRIDGEHodges, N., 2000, ‘New thinking in gender and development: an annotated bibliography’, mimeo, BRIDGE24 International Labour Organization, 2000, ‘Decent work for women: an ILO proposal to accelerate the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action’IASC-WG Sub-Working Group on Gender and Humanitarian Assistance, 1999, ‘Integration of gender into needs assessment and planning of humanitarian assistance’, a summary report of a UNICEF-sponsored workshop on behalf of the IASC-WG Sub-Working Group on Gender and Humanitarian Assistance, for the UN Country Teams, Angola, North Korea and Tajikistan, Geneva, Switzerland, 25-30 July 1999Inter-Agency Standing Committee, 1999, ‘Policy statement for the integration of a gender perspective in humanitarian assistance’, XXI Meeting, Geneva, 31 May 1999,Jackson , C., 2000, ‘Men at work’ (ties together themes from a collection of papers from a workshop on, ‘Working lives, men and development’ held at the University of East Anglia in 1999 and sponsored by the ESRC)McGee, R. with Norton, A., 2000, ‘Participation in poverty reduction strategies: a synthesis of experience with participatory approaches to policy design, implementation and monitoring’, IDS Working Paper No 109, Brighton: IDSOxfam, 1997, ‘Men and masculinities’, Focus on Gender Pearson, R., 2000, ‘New hope or false dawn: codes of conduct in a globalising world’, draft paper for discussion at IDS International Workshop, September 18-21 2000, on ‘Who pays for gender equity? Public sector and corporate accountability to women’Reeves, H., 2000, ‘Gender evaluation within the UN system’, mimeo, prepared for Danida, BRIDGE Twenty-Third Special Session of the General Assembly, 2000, ‘Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century’, Unedited final outcome document as adopted by the plenary of the special session, June 2000United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), 2000, ‘Memorandum of understanding (MoU) governing collaboration between the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)’United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), 2000, Progress of the World’s Women 2000, New York: UNIFEMUSAID, 2000, ‘Women and women’s organizations in post-conflict societies: the role of international assistance’World Bank, 2000, ‘Gender Chapter’ of the ‘Poverty reduction strategy paper’, draft for comments, www.worldbank.org/poverty/strategies/srcbook/gend0814.pdfWorld Bank, 2000, ‘Advancing gender equality: World Bank action since Beijing’SWAps Brown , A., 2000, ‘Current issues in sector-wide approaches for health development, Uganda case study’, conducted by the Overseas Development Institute for the World Health Organisation, June 200025 Brown, A., 2000, ‘Current issues in sector-wide approaches for health development, Viet Nam case study’, conducted by the Overseas Development Institute for the World Health Organisation, June 2000 Conway, T., June 2000, ‘Current issues in sector-wide approaches for health development, Tanzanian case study’, conducted by the Overseas Development Institute for the World Health Organisation, June 2000Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1998, ‘Guidelines for sector programme support: Danida sector polices’ (revised), May 1998Evers, B. and Kroon, M., 2000, ‘Gender mainstreaming in sector-wide approaches: integrating gender into sector-wide programmes: the health sector in Bangladesh’, DAC Working Party on Gender Equality, draftFong, M. and Mukhopadhyay, M., 2000, ‘Gender mainstreaming in agriculture sector-wide approaches: a review of current practice’, note by the Task Force on SWAps, DAC Working Party on Gender EqualityFoster, M., 2000, ‘Experience with implementing sector wide approaches: a background working paper for the DFID White Paper’, Centre for Aid and Public Expenditure, ODI, June 2000Foster, M., Brown, A. and Conway, T., 2000, ‘Sector-wide approaches for health development: a review of experience’, conducted by the Overseas Development Institute for the World Health Publication, June 2000Foster, M., Norton, A., Brown, A. and Naschold, F., 2000, ‘The status of sector wide approaches: a framework paper for the meeting of the like-minded donor working group on sector wide approaches’, Dublin, February 8-10th 2000, 3rd draft, Centre for Aid and Public Expenditure, Overseas Development Institute, LondonHuijts, I., 2000, ‘Gender mainstreaming in sector-wide approaches: the health sector in Ghana’, prepared by the Netherlands for the Task Force on SWAps, DAC Working Party on Gender Equality, Working PaperNorton A. and Bird, B., May 1998, ‘Social development issues in sector wide approaches’, Overseas Development Institute Norton, A., Sibbons, M., Smawfield, D., Poulsen, H., Gibbard, A. and Seel, A., 2000, ‘Mainstreaming gender through sector wide approaches in education’, synthesis report, a study carried out for DFID, Draft report, April 2000Tolhurst, R., 2000, ‘Gender mainstreaming in sector-wide approaches: integrating gender into sector-wide programmes: an overview of issues in the health sector’, DAC Working Party on Gender Equality, draft26 Emerging Issues in Gender and Development: An Overview Report No. 58In 2000, the UN 23rd Special Session 'Beijing +5' provided an opportunity for reflection on progress towards implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action. This begins by looking at Sector-wide approaches (SWAPS) and efforts to mainstream gender through analysis, capacity-building, implementation, accountability and monitoring and evaluation. It then goes on to identify key themes and sectors including poverty, globalisation, ICTs, conflict, HIV/AIDS and human rights. Each section looks at measures that have been implemented to further gender equality by a range of bilateral and multilateral organisations.

Emerging Issues in Gender and Development: an Overview

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